President Mustafa Akıncı said “The only point that I am sensitive about is the political equality of the Turkish Cypriot people. Equal treatment should be given to the both sides. This is not an ordinary fight for status. It has a great importance for the existence of the Turkish Cypriot people”.

President Mustafa Akıncı organized a press meeting at the TRNC Presidency regarding the friendly football match to be played between Mağusa Türk Gücü and Nea Salamina from South Cyprus.

Akıncı expressed that previously, it was stated that the friendly match would be played in Pile due to its being a bi-communal region but later the UN stated that they could not provide the security in Pile and it was decided the match would be played in South Cyprus.

Akıncı said: “If the principles mentioned at the beginning were followed, we would also be attending that match. Failure to comply with the aforementioned principles made our participation impossible.

Stating that he never has an attitude not to participate in events in the South, Akıncı stressed that activities organised in the south should be also organized in the north like the cultural activities.

Expressing that it is a pity that the UN cannot provide sufficient security to an organization to be held at the buffer zone, Akıncı said that if they say that they cannot provide the security, they should question themselves. If the security cannot be provided in an organization that has a few hundred people, it means that they allow the Greek Cypriot police in the south to provide the security. This is unacceptable. The UN should help us to provide support and logistics in such matters.